While scanning tweets yesterday, I came across a link to Pam Barchorz's blog, where she posted about making a book trailer on a budget. (This is one of the aspects I love about Twitter, by the way: just when you're mulling over something relatively profound, the Twitterverse provides a relevant link to catch your eye. It's like it's sentient or something!)
Anyway, to quote Ms Bachorz:
"It’s fascinating to see how an author, or their publisher, manages to distill their book’s subject and make it visually interesting. It’s like flap copy in motion."
If you want some great tips on how to make your own book trailer, do check out her post: "Making a professional book trailer on a budget".
Having just forked out a few $ for bookmarks to give away to promote Even Demons Get The Blues, I'm wondering if a book trailer is worth the outlay. And not only financial outlay. If I decide to have a go at making one myself, there'll be the added cost of time taken from my writing week and redirected into something that will promote my book.
Or will it?
You see, I'm one of those people who won't buy a product if its ad gets right up my nose and irritates me. I even go so far as to mute the sound when certain ads play on TV. The whole, "But if you remember it, then it's doing its job!" doesn't wash with me. Hey, Mr Ad Dude, what part of "I won't buy your product on principle because your ad is nauseatingly annoying in the extreme!" didn't you understand?
Neither am I an advocate of "any publicity is good publicity". Or to be more specific "even a bad website is better than no website presence at all".
Just as I wouldn't go out in public in my dressing gown and slippers-- Okay, okay, busted! I have been known to make a quick dash to put out the trash or check the mailbox. Sheesh!
What I'm trying to say is for me, a professional-looking website is important because it (hopefully!) conveys to industry professionals that I'm... well... professional! So if I can't afford to pay someone who knows what they're doing to create the book trailer of my dreams and I do have a go at making one myself, it's not going public unless its bloody near perfect. And I'm absolutely sure I'm not gonna be embarassed by it. And it's bloody near perfect!
Which obviously means that if I make a complete hash of it -- highly likely! -- despite hours of work, it'll never see the light of day.
So before I seriously contemplate wasting money and/or time -- neither of which I have in abundance right now -- I would love to have your feedback to these potentially life-altering questions:
1. Are you a book trailer junkie?
2. When you view a really great book trailer, does it truly influence you to rush out and buy the book?
3. And if it's not a particularly inspiring trailer, or even (heaven forbid!) a truly wince-worthy one, would that influence you to not buy the book?
4. If you are a book trailer junkie, where do you generally find them? (Author's website? YouTube? Some other awesome place I've never heard of????)
5. How do you usually hear about book trailers? (By subscribing to the author's newsletters? Referrals from writers' loops? Twitter? Facebook? Some other fascinating social network I'm missing out on????)
Hanging out for your opinions!
:-)
M
16 comments:
I haven't watched a book trailer and don't plan to. I hate spoilers!
I have Even Demons get the Blues -- great story by the way.
I have watched book trailers a good share. I will say that I am very undecided about them. They have never persuaded me to buy a book I was unsure of (reviews do that)- I will say that they have made me think twice about buy a book though.
I really am not a fan of trailers that have actual actors visible - why simply because 9 times out of ten the actor chosen DOES NOT meet the vision I have a character or think a character should look like. (series wise this really is a big problem - not so much in stand alone.)
I generally look at author sites or hear about it on a blog or twitter.
I like book trailers. I love getting a visual insight into a book.
I'm not a fan of book trailers. I much prefer just reading a simple blurb and an excerpt. As a reader, I want to know what the authors voice is before I buy from them and the excerpt is basically the only thing that gives me that insight.
However, if I stumbled across a cool trailer, I'd probably check out that author's website but in the end, the excerpt is what would ultimately sell me. The only times I've ever seen a trailer I've liked is when I was looking for that author in the first place (and it was on their website or myspace page)
I like book trailers and have bought books based on them, but a lot of the books I read are just because the blurb was good enough to pique my interest.
I think there are some people that definitely check book trailers before buying and they are a significant part of the market, so, on that basis alone, there is a need for them in the marketing tool kit. However, I don't think that segment of the market will be put off if they don't find a trailer. It's like anything authors do to promote their books, whatever works is in.
Maree,
I make my own trailers.
They aren't spoilers, I just give the readers an idea of what kind of book it is and a general idea of what it's about.
The visuals are something that stay with me and help me to connect with the author's name.
Hugs,
Tambra
I like trailers, on the whole. When they're good, they're good. When they're bad, they're ghastly -- the really rotten ones have no idea of pacing. A lot of authors seem to forget everything they've learned about writing snappy cover copy as soon as they get their hands on Movie Maker :)
Bad trailers don't put me off books. Because most trailers are bad :) and we know that's not true of books.
I've never bought a book because of a trailer. But I do go hunting on YouTube for trailers for upcoming books I'm already interested in.
I make my own trailers -- I do exactly the same as Pam B! -- and you're right, Maree, it does suck up a fair bit of time. I post them on YouTube with relevant keywords, and on my website. I have no idea if it will increase my sales or not. But it was fun!
In my humble opinion, a trailer should be there to showcase the mood of the book, rather than the plot. Like Tambra said, give an idea of the kind of book it is.
My perfect book trailer? Check out the titles to the TV series The Tudors, especially series 2 and 3. Those images tell you everything you need to know about the show without giving away an iota of plot. Very clever.
I've purchased three books solely because of their book trailers. The most recent was Libba Bray's A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY.
The cover made it out to be a period drama, and I'm not so into that. But the book trailer made it clear how spooky and awesome it would be... and the book is amazing.
That said, I don't think a lot of money has to be spent to make it cool.
I've watched some trailers and even done some of my own. At first it was time consuming, but I enjoyed the process and learned a lot.
I've never purchased a book after seeing a trailer. I'm more likely to read the blurb and go from there. Having said all that, I think seeing a trailer or a blog post or online ad brings me a step closer in the name recognition thing. I might not buy a book this time but if a trailer makes a good impression, I remember the author's name. I think basically trailers are another weapon in the author's arsenal in becoming a recognizable name.
Woohoo! This is fantastic feedback, ladies -- exactly what I was hoping for, so thanks heaps. Interesting that in this age of visual media, it's still a book's blurb which "sells" the book.
So what I'm feeling here is:
- it certainly isn't detrimental NOT to have a trailer.
- making your trailer into a spoiler is a big fat no no! Your trailer should showcase the "mood" of the book rather than plot.
- avoid actors being too visible as it can ruin the reader's vision of the characters.
- great for author name recognition
Mmmm. Lots to ponder. Perhaps I'll look at the possibility of a book trailer to "reward" myself for finishing another damn manuscript!
:-)
M
BTW: Marnie Collette - thanks for the compliment re Even Demons Get The Blues!
Hugs....
Like Chris said, I don't watch them and don't plan to. But my reason is because they take too much time to watch and I agree with Katie R. I want my own visuals and I want a glimpse of the author's voice, so I read excerpts. But it's interesting to see how many people do like trailers.
Carly Carson
Got to be honest I have never bought a book because of a book trailer. I have never visited an authors website because a book trailer. In fact book trailers are pretty boring just a slideshow with music. I prefer to read the blurb or an extract.
I love book trailers - much better than reading reviews put together by random people, and more informative than a blurb. As far as just letting people know your book exists - which is half of the fight when trying to get people to buy it - book trailers works because even people who don't buy books can enjoy a cleverly put together video and share it. I find most trailers through references on Twitter and pass on good clips, even I choose to pass on the book.
Thanks for pointing out that not all advertising is good and if you bore me/ make me sick/ annoy me then I am never going to consider your product.
Thanks for the feedback, everyone!
Cassandra, with regards to TV ads, because they intrude and in New Zealand, anyway, the sound levels always increase during ad breaks, I'm definitely a "Won't buy on principle if it's bloody annoying intrusive ad!" kinda gal. But that's just me, LOL.
But book trailers are a bit different. I have a choice as to whether I view a book trailer. So I suspect I'd probably subscribe to Erica's philosphy: a ho-hum trailer isn't necessarily gonna put me off buying the book. Next I'd go read the blurb and make my final decision based on that.
I enjoy well done book trailers. I prefer a simple, straight forward trailer to one that attempts to keep up with the big budget productions and fails miserably.
Badly done book trailers will lose me every time!
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